Unearthed #13 (part 1)
Due to the high number of releases (and skipping last week’s Unearthed), my recommendations for the end of the year will be split into two parts. Here is part 1.
New releases
Argyre Planitia’s third album, Ediacara, was released by Winter-Light. It is a journey to an alien world that will one day be called Earth. Ten tracks guide us through these strange landscapes with slowly evolving soundscapes and deep drones.
The Fire in Us Now from Bang of Hearts consists of five long improvisations created by Ashtoreth, Forestaal, and Dominique Van Cappellen-Waldock. It is a ritual constructed from voices, guitars, drums, and electronic instruments.
Electronic Death Black Dogs’ debut album, Cthonia, has been released on Dark Odyssey Records and is a very promising start. Across eight beautiful, atmospheric tracks, slow drones and cavernous soundscapes invoke Hecate, goddess of night, witchcraft, and the Moon. Highly recommended.
Drones by the Sea by Insectarium is a half-hour session recorded for the Drones by the Sea 2025 event in Italy. I have linked both the Bandcamp and YouTube pages so you can listen to it twice. You should.
Ithaqua is “a 2 hour dark soundscape album recorded by 19 ambient artists to pay tribute to H.P. Lovecraft's Mythos.” Released by Cryo Chamber, it features Ruptured World, ProtoU, Gydja, and many other great artists.
If you are looking for music that sits somewhere between industrial and dark ambient, you might enjoy Alpha, the debut album from Hibernant. It is part cold and technological, part dreamlike and atmospheric.
Noctilucant’s Amongst the Snow and the Shadows was re-released on CD a couple of days ago. It is a very limited edition of only 15 copies – last I checked, the final copy was still available on Bandcamp.
The final release for part one of this Unearthed comes from New Risen Throne. The Journey to Reach the Fathers is one of the best releases of 2025. As the Bandcamp page describes, it is “a monumental work of sonic transcendence, a meditation on death, ancestry, and the dissolution of the self.” With over an hour and a half of masterful dark ambient compositions, it offers an immersive experience of resonant soundscapes and deep drones. My personal favorite and highly recommended.